Man ate garda notes after stealing beer can

A man who slipped a can of beer down his trousers in a shop reacted to a security man by biting his arm. And when asked to sign the notes of a follow-up interview by gardaí, he ate the pages.

What started with the theft of a single can of beer by Patrick McAuliffe, ended at Cork District Court with a six-month jail sentence yesterday at Cork District Court.

Insp Gary McPolin said McAuliffe went to Aldi at the Blackpool retail park on August 2, 2014 and selected four cans of beer. He queued up and paid for three but slipped the fourth can inside his trousers.

Security man Trevor Buckley followed McAuliffe out of the store and confronted him about the theft.

McAuliffe reacted by biting the security man’s arm and then shouted all sorts of claims about the implications of being bitten. Other security personnel had to assist in detaining the 50-year-old until gardaí arrived.

McAuliffe was arrested and taken to the Bridewell Garda Station. Some hours later he was interviewed in relation to the matter.

“When the interview notes were read to him and he was asked to sign them he pulled the notes from the guard and promptly ate them,” said Insp McPolin.

McAuliffe, whose address was given as St Vincent’s hostel, Anglesea Terrace, Cork, had 245 previous convictions.

Solicitor Diarmuid Kelleher said McAuliffe’s difficulties began in his 20s when he fell from scaffolding damaging his eyes and his back. It led to an addiction to painkillers and a subsequent alcohol addiction.